ScienceDaily: Top News

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• HIV vaccines should avoid viral target cells, primate model study suggests
• Predicting superbugs' countermoves to new drugs
• More efficient, sensitive estrogen detection developed
• NASA finds good news on forests and carbon dioxide
• Findings point to potential approach to treat virus causing illness, possible paralysis
• Killing for DNA: A predatory device in the cholera bacterium
• 'Bad luck' of random mutations plays predominant role in cancer, study shows
• Fat isn't all bad: Skin adipocytes help protect against infections
• Defying textbook science, study finds new role for proteins
• Researchers target the cell's 'biological clock' in promising new therapy to kill cancer cells
• Women with atypical hyperplasia are at higher risk of breast cancer
• Stereotactic body radiation therapy plus chemotherapy improves survival among stage 4 lung cancer patients
• Mind over matter: Can you think your way to strength?
• Unique Sulawesi frog gives birth to tadpoles
• Can exercise help people with Parkinson's disease?
• Little change seen in fast food portion size, product formulation between 1996 and 2013
• Patterns of RNA regulation in nuclei of plants identified
• Patient stem cells used to make dementia-in-a-dish; help identify new treatment strategy
• 3-D culture system for pancreatic cancer has potential to change therapeutic approaches
• Ten exciting astronomy stories from 2014
• More than 1.5 million cancer deaths averted during 2 decades of dropping mortality

HIV vaccines should avoid viral target cells, primate model study suggests Posted: 02 Jan 2015 08:33 AM PST Vaccines designed to protect against HIV have backfired in clinical trials. Non-human primate model studies suggest an explanation: vaccination may increase the number of immune cells that serve as viral targets. In a nonhuman primate model of HIV transmission, higher levels of viral target cells in gateway mucosal tissues were associated with an increased risk of infection.

Predicting superbugs' countermoves to new drugs Posted: 02 Jan 2015 08:33 AM PST With drug-resistant bacteria on the rise, even common infections that were easily controlled for decades are proving trickier to treat with standard antibiotics. New drugs are desperately needed, but so are ways to maximize the effective lifespan of these drugs. To accomplish that, researchers used software they developed to predict a constantly-evolving infectious bacterium's counter-moves to one of these new drugs ahead of time, before the drug is even tested on patients.

More efficient, sensitive estrogen detection developed Posted: 02 Jan 2015 07:02 AM PST A new method for detecting trace amounts of estrogen has been developed by scientists, an advance that will help health researchers. The hormone estrogen plays an important role in the human body and has been linked to everything from tumor growth to neuron loss during Alzheimer's disease. But detecting very small amounts of it in blood and other biological fluids can be difficult for health researchers, especially in the limited amounts available in laboratory experiments.

NASA finds good news on forests and carbon dioxide Posted: 02 Jan 2015 05:47 AM PST A new NASA-led study shows that tropical forests may be absorbing far more carbon dioxide than many scientists thought, in response to rising atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas. The study estimates that tropical forests absorb 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide out of a total global absorption of 2.5 billion -- more than is absorbed by forests in Canada, Siberia and other northern regions, called boreal forests.

Findings point to potential approach to treat virus causing illness, possible paralysis Posted: 01 Jan 2015 01:36 PM PST New research findings point toward a class of compounds that could be effective in combating infections caused by enterovirus D68, which has stricken children with serious respiratory infections and might be associated with polio-like symptoms in the United States and elsewhere.

Killing for DNA: A predatory device in the cholera bacterium Posted: 01 Jan 2015 01:36 PM PST Scientists have uncovered the unconventional way that the cholera bacterium stabs and kills other bacteria to steal their DNA, making it potentially more virulent. Cholera is caused when the bacterium Vibrio cholerae infects the small intestine. The disease is characterized by acute watery diarrhea resulting in severe dehydration.

'Bad luck' of random mutations plays predominant role in cancer, study shows Posted: 01 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST A statistical model has been created that measures the proportion of cancer incidence, across many tissue types, caused mainly by random mutations that occur when stem cells divide. By this measure, two-thirds of adult cancer incidence across tissues can be explained primarily by "bad luck," when these random mutations occur in genes that can drive cancer growth, while the remaining third are due to environmental factors and inherited genes.

Fat isn't all bad: Skin adipocytes help protect against infections Posted: 01 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST When it comes to skin infections, a healthy and robust immune response may depend greatly upon what lies beneath. In a new paper, researchers report the surprising discovery that fat cells below the skin help protect us from bacteria.

Defying textbook science, study finds new role for proteins Posted: 01 Jan 2015 11:23 AM PST Results from a new study defy textbook science, showing for the first time that the building blocks of a protein, called amino acids, can be assembled without blueprints – DNA and an intermediate template called messenger RNA (mRNA). A team of researchers has observed a case in which another protein specifies which amino acids are added.

Researchers target the cell's 'biological clock' in promising new therapy to kill cancer cells Posted: 01 Jan 2015 11:22 AM PST Cell biologists have targeted telomeres with a small molecule called 6-thiodG that takes advantage of the cell's 'biological clock' to kill cancer cells and shrink tumor growth.

Women with atypical hyperplasia are at higher risk of breast cancer Posted: 31 Dec 2014 04:01 PM PST Women with atypical hyperplasia of the breast have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than previously thought, a study has found. Atypical hyperplasia of the breast is a precancerous condition found in about one-tenth of the over 1 million breast biopsies with benign findings performed annually in the United States.

Stereotactic body radiation therapy plus chemotherapy improves survival among stage 4 lung cancer patients Posted: 31 Dec 2014 12:40 PM PST A clinical trial that combined stereotactic body radiation therapy with a specific chemotherapy regimen more than doubled survival rates for certain stage 4 lung cancer patients, scientists report.

Mind over matter: Can you think your way to strength? Posted: 31 Dec 2014 12:40 PM PST Regular mental imagery exercises help preserve arm strength during 4 weeks of immobilization, researchers have found. Strength is controlled by a number of factors -- the most studied by far is skeletal muscle. However, the nervous system is also an important, though not fully understood, determinant of strength and weakness. In this study, researchers set out to test how the brain's cortex plays into strength development.

Unique Sulawesi frog gives birth to tadpoles Posted: 31 Dec 2014 12:39 PM PST Frogs exhibit an amazing variety of reproductive behaviors, ranging from brooding their eggs in their mouths to carrying tadpoles on their backs. Fewer than a dozen species of 6,000+ worldwide have developed internal fertilization, and some of these give birth to froglets instead of eggs. One species that has internal fertilization, a fanged frog from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, has been observed to give direct birth to tadpoles, which is unique among amphibians.

Can exercise help people with Parkinson's disease? Posted: 31 Dec 2014 12:39 PM PST Exercise may help people with Parkinson's disease improve their balance, ability to move around and quality of life, even if it does not reduce their risk of falling, according to a new study.

Little change seen in fast food portion size, product formulation between 1996 and 2013 Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:04 AM PST Two new reports show that fast food portion sizes and product formulation, including sodium content and fat, stayed relatively the same between 1996 and 2013. The exception was a consistent decline in trans fat of fries between 2000 and 2009. Nevertheless, calorie and sodium contents remain high suggesting emphasis needs to be shifted from portion size to additional factors such as total calories, number of items ordered, and menu choices.

Patterns of RNA regulation in nuclei of plants identified Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:04 AM PST In a new study done in plants, biologists give a global view of the patterns that can affect the various RNA regulatory processes that occur before these molecules move into the cytoplasm, where they are translated into the proteins that make up a living organism.

Patient stem cells used to make dementia-in-a-dish; help identify new treatment strategy Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:04 AM PST A new strategy for treating an inherited form of dementia has been identified after researchers attempted to turn stem cells derived from patients into the neurons most affected by the disease. In patient-derived stem cells carrying a mutation predisposing them to frontotemporal dementia, the scientists found a targetable defect that prevents normal neurodevelopment. These stem cells partially return to normal when the defect is corrected.

3-D culture system for pancreatic cancer has potential to change therapeutic approaches Posted: 31 Dec 2014 11:04 AM PST Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with only 6 percent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. Researchers now announce the development of a new model system to grow both normal and cancerous pancreatic cells in the laboratory. Their work promises to change the way pancreatic cancer research is done, allowing scientists to interrogate the pathways driving this devastating disease while searching for new drug targets.

Ten exciting astronomy stories from 2014 Posted: 31 Dec 2014 08:37 AM PST Looking back at the science news released by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in 2014, the staff scientists at NRAO selected what they believe are the top 10 stories based on both scientific impact and public interest.

More than 1.5 million cancer deaths averted during 2 decades of dropping mortality Posted: 31 Dec 2014 06:56 AM PST The American Cancer Society's annual cancer statistics report finds that a 22 percent drop in cancer mortality over two decades led to the avoidance of more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred if peak rates had persisted.

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